Training seriously for strength is not compatible with training seriously for endurance sports.

To some extent that is true but Francis Ngannou, David Goggins, Cam Haynes and a few others would disagree. It’s about how much you’re willing to put into it and how much you’re willing to suffer

You’ll adapt, suck it up for a bit and your body will get used to it. When I started lifting I could barely walk up stairs for a few days after leg day, but now I can train MMA sane day and ride day after no problem. I mean it still sucks a bit but it’s fine

115kg squat is a lot 6 weeks in though, make sure your form is proper dialled as that also helped me, goal is to make light weight look heavy by executing perfect reps with slow return not make heavy weights look light by forcing reps and screwing your back up. If you have form dialled and are just a beast then as I said at the top, suck it up and let your body figure out it has to crack on

Haha yeah like I say, I could write a book!

Photos still need sorting, but I was with my wife, this was our honeymoon! We slept in the popup roof of our 78 series Land Cruiser wherever we fancied once we were tired each night, no options for accommodation apart from staying in nomad’s Gers, which would have been awesome but the Gers are tiny and our half hour visits for directions and food kinda reached the limits of the fact they spoke zero English and we could only say hello and thankyou!

Two great things were firstly not having anyone ever remotely give us the impression they wanted money, wherever else you go in the world there’s almost always an angle to extract some kind of tourist tax. Secondly how they were just baffled to see a couple of Europeans driving around when they must barely even see other locals! We waved at everyone we passed and almost 100% of the time they stared in disbelief for a few seconds then smiled and waved back (a couple exceptions when we were really high up and remote and I think they were probably genuinely and rightly concerned we were going to get stranded somewhere)

Also, skeletons and dead stuff everywhere! Really cool

We did 9 days with the truck, which meant mostly 12hr driving days without much stopping, but that’s what we set out to do

The only bad thing is this has ruined holidays now, there is no way it can be topped!

So we went!

It was the most incredible adventure we could have hoped for. We drove 1800 miles, got stuck in mud and sand, got lost every single day and met the most lovely hospitable nomadic people

I feel like I could write a book on the 2 week trip but the main things were the variation in scenery, one day I’m in my boxers climbing a sand dune, 3 days later we’re driving through a snowstorm and very nearly got stranded up a mountain pass. Saw vultures, camels, foxes, marmots, pikas and loads more. The high mountains were amazing but the 360degree flat horizon steppe and endless Gobi sand dunes were also amazing places to be

We saw the Milky Way whenever it wasn’t cloudy, I loved driving across mountain passes and through mud and sand and the locals often invited us in and gave us variations on very smelly goat cheese, in return we gave them herbs, torches, rizlas and colouring books

Thoroughly recommend trying it out!

I got my driving licence in Italy, they teach the 1 second rule. There cannot be more than one second from when the car in front’s front bumper passes a road sign to when your rear bumper passes it

10 years in the UK have changed my driving somewhat, but I will say driving in places like Southern Europe, Asia etc improves driving alot. You are just so much more aware of everything over there as you can’t trust anyone to do anything predictable, it makes returning to the UK to watch the person with right of way at a roundabout sit there for ages quite infuriating

I do love the way that a busy Indian city crossroads works with no real rules but everyone just kinda slowly merges through each other. Twisty mountain passes in India however are a whole other level, you can overtake on a blind bend as long as you sound your horn. Not sure what that does other than let the guy coming the other way know he’s about to die

I have normal bikes, an eMTB and a KTM 690. None particularly new or fancy, the value of all of them together doesn’t add up to the cost of a top spec mtb. I’d say my 2 wheel time goes as below

80% MTB

18% eMTB (basically 50% of my solo rides)

2% motorbike

The KTM is up for sale, after a life changing (but after 400hr of physio, not MTB-stopping luckily) injury I’m evaluating my risk vs reward and the risk on the KTM is something like 100 times that of the push bikes and the fun and social aspect of the push bikes is easily 10x that of the big bike so it’s going. I’ll probably build myself another cafe racer for getting about on but fast bikes just aren’t worth it for me any more, and that’s coming from someone (a very lucky idiot) who in their 20s was hammering a ZX6R about with a vest and shorts on

I use the standard fx85 or whatever it is on my desk but portable? Phone app, surely

I’m lucky enough not to suffer from them but know people who do, horrible thing to live with and add in the stigma I know at least one person feels about calling work with “have a headache can’t come in”, I feel for anyone who does

I was reading a paper showing psilocybin and LSD trials showing good results for chronic headaches and migraine and there’s tonnes of anecdotal stories of people improving or curing them by using those. 50 years of propaganda are wearing off as well so you can even get them legally now in some places

Seemed ideal until I saw the sizing. Going by that sizing chart if you’re over 6’ you have to be obese for it to fit. I can imagine how much fun it is being overweight and cycling in a plastic suit

So in 64 posts we’ve learned that

1. Those who don’t use the BBC don’t think they should pay for it

2. Those that do use the BBC think everyone should pay for it

Maybe the second category could pay for the first’s TV licenses that they don’t use, then no one pays for services they don’t use and the BBC gets more funding. Win win?

I’ve been using them for a couple months after doing a 3 day hike up to 10,000ft with a mate who was wearing Vivos. I have noticed a significant increase in tibialis and calf strength. The first few times using them my lower legs and feet felt ‘sore’ in the way my chest feels sore after a hard chest workout, which in my eyes means something is strengthening

And as others say, extremely light, breathable and comfortable

Did my first OG Barefoot (ie no shoes or socks) walk last week and it felt great even over loose stones and light gravel

Caveat: I lift weights most days, am in shape and do several sports so am not heavy and can notice any small difference in my body

Caveat2: I have a rare genetic skin condition which is alleviated my hardening up the soles of the feet so have a good reason to walk around with no shoes on, not everyone may be looking to do that for obvious reasons

Nice one mrpaul, looks like a good resource that!

Uzbekistan was also on our list but from what I could tell it’s all about the cities, culture and architecture and just uninhabited desert in between. Is that the case or is there some scenery out there too? Defo somewhere we want to visit but seemed like Mongolia had more to offer

I lived there for 7 years, I hadn’t started riding back then so can’t say for sure on actual trails but pretty much anything steep is just steps, you can put your bike on the SITA bus to get you up a hill but you’ll almost certainly be descending tarmac or just a tonne of steps. If you really want to do it the steps from Pogerola back to Amalfi are rideable from my memory of them but probably not much fun

I do miss walking down the 2200 steps from my front door straight to the beach!

<p>Sounds like exactly what we’re after jonba!</p><p>This is actually our honeymoon, an unusual choice but having not been able to do any adventure travelling lately between Covid, injuries and personal issues we are keen to get out and explore again. </p><p>We have always wanted to travel and back in 2017 a new job and 200% pay rise meant we could start doing it. Between then and 2020 we travelled India, Cambodia, Nepal etc and loved getting away from the busy tourist areas. We considered the usual beach destinations but were uninspired until we happened to look at Mongolia and it just seemed like the perfect adventure before we potentially add members to the family and can’t do such things for a while!</p>

…just managed to speak to them on the phone. Much reassured, he speaks good English and will amend the invoice for us. He also promised to give us help with route once we get there. However a bit of advice if anyone else has done similar before would still be great so we have an idea once we get there

Was hoping this thread would help me understand why my neighbour walks around in the middle of the night hiding his rubbish in other peoples wheelie bins. It’s not a problem but it baffles me, surely it’s easier just to put it in your own one then take it out

I could ask him but he’s a total cock and denies anything you accuse him of, even if you catch him doing it

Thanks all! Will probably be getting some Shimano then. I do like the look of the Era and the new T Type Srams but a bit of an expense right now with a wedding to pay for!

I spent years sleeping in my cars at weekends, from a Fiat Uno through to a Pug 306 estate and from just me to my 2 bandmates and instruments as well

The solution to a comfy night is to be absolutely hammered, although here in the UK that can get you in trouble. Second best is to use an inflatable mattress partially inflated to even out the sleeping area. Window deflectors also very useful for leaving windows slightly down so you don’t drown in condensation

DT Swiss rim tape. I had all kind of problems with other brands, not sticking, peeling, leaking etc etc. Just get the DT stuff and you’ll find it so much better (also so much more expensive but 100% worth it)

I used to be very pessimistic about this situation. Thing is that you guys are right, the current situation won’t be solved by the current efforts. However with AGI and quantum computers apparently imminent some new solutions are hopefully coming

Michio Kaku says a modern computer compared to a quantum computer will be like an abacus compared to the modern pc. Let that sink in for a minute

That is of course not to say we shouldn’t do what we can to avoid damaging the environment, but it is at least a more positive outlook

AGI can also of course wipe us out, but I guess that would probably solve the problem anyway…

Very subjective and my Curas are also 2 years newer than my A4s so not exactly the most valid opinion but I prefer the slight squidge in the Cura lever at bite point to the smoother A4 lever

I’m running Dominions on the MTB and Cura4s on the eMTB. They are easily the 2 best brake sets I’ve run, compared to Saint, Code, XT, Deore 4 pot, Level and E4s

Not had any trouble getting pads, olives and fluid for the Dominions yet.

Slightly prefer the Curas but the Dominions are pretty much as good, bleed easier and have the grub screws for aligning the calliper so not sure which I’d buy again over the other

TLDR: Cura and Dominion are both amazing, can’t go wrong with either

The slotted dropout bent taking the chainstay with it. Honestly I reckon it was a genuine defect, either in the material itself or an assembly issue like loose dropout to frame bolts. Mine has taken a tonne of abuse since and is fine, the dropouts are no skinnier than other designs and no welds too close or anything weird

The fact he broke it riding along a cycle track to work having only done an XC ride on it previously while mine has been hucked to flat with full bikepacking kit attached and not broken suggests the design itself is OK

Me and a mate have XLs. Well, I do, my mate bent the rear end on the second ride and they have him a Big Dog instead

Got them as complete bike so no idea on frame weight but the bike isn’t heavy for a cheapo build

Rides well, I find it harsh but I have a recently reconstructed knee and haven’t been on a hardtail in ages so not really a valid opinion. Geometry wise it’s great though, ridden some pretty steep stuff no problem

PSA for any other XL owners though, the eBay £19.99 special 8L ‘RockBros’ frame bag fits perfectly leaving just enough room for a 1l bottle on the seat tube and a tube strapped to the top tube/head tube junction

Anyone reading this from the future, I hope the AI thing turned out ok. Below my helmet findings:

I bought a Tactic 4 which was pretty comfy but too wide, I have a long narrow head and it swayed side to side a lot if I wiggled my head. The glasses storage in the vents is pretty good, the fixed visor is totally useless

Then ordered a TLD A3 which is slightly more comfy but much better suited to my long head. Fidlock buckle is nice and you can actually store glasses same as the Tactic by stuffing them upside down into the front outside vents under the visor. First ride in it last night and felt great, if a little warmer than my old POC Tectal

I bought one last week and stupidly overfilled my 100g canister from a 500g. Was very impressed with myself for how much I’d managed to cram in there, about an extra 30g

Luckily I stopped for lunch on a beach and not some dry woods because it made quite the flame when I lit it. Released the overpressure and it was alright to cook dinner on later in the woods but I will be filling to just below capacity in future and only 3-5 times before getting a new canister. And of course pierced and binned the overfilled one

Yes I’m an idiot

Thanks! Plenty to look at there. Yeah it’s annoying not being able to just pick the one you like, I remember running a particularly ugly THE lid I’d found in 3XL for ages and just loving that it fitted!

I did get the head checked out today. All good  as far as they can tell, just gotta try to take it easy until the headaches stop

IoW local here, few tips:

If you’re on an MTB Brighstone forest has a tonne of amazing trails, be a shame to ride through without trying a couple out

Brighstone is also a great camp spot

Once you reach Newport head up St George’s down via Shide instead of joining the cycle track to Newchurch and follow to Hare & Hounds pub, turn right just after the tip and head through Coombley woods to Havenstreet then on to Ryde for the boat, or to Fishbourne via Firestone Copse and get the boat there

The coastal path round the South is also a great option but does add a fair bit of distance and elevation and involves some footpath so may not be what you’re after

I run everything from fancy Ultimakers and huge CreatBots to Creality Enders. None of them are plug and play, I think I’ve messed around more with the £6.5k Ultimaker than my £200 Creality Ender 5

If you want a home printer get an Ender every time, but you’ll need to learn how it works and mess about with it

You can get good runs of months without touching anything but you’ll also have times when you want to throw it out the window, which doesn’t sound like what you want

Markforge is the closest to plug and play in my experience, but the beds are tiny, you’re locked into their filaments and slicer and the fact sites list price as “POA” tells you a little bit about affordability

I was eating normally at the time of doing the hypno. I had tried FODMAP and it made pretty much no difference

I’m now pretty much symptom free eating whatever I want. Caveat to that is that what I want is pretty healthy in general, but I do eat utter rubbish sometimes with no issues. I also skip breakfast but have been doing that for 8 years now and did it before during and after my IBS issues so pretty sure that isn’t making any difference

I’d definitely say stick with one thing at a time, so in your case do the 12 or 16 weeks of FODMAP before trying hypno or gels

Very nicely put @chevychase, some absolutely shocking suggestions on here. No wonder so many of the kids I see around could probably roll their way round a DoE hike

I dismissed it as mumbo jumbo for ages but had a horrific IBS incident that left me feeling horrible for ages and was up for trying anything. If someone told me cutting your own finger off with garden shears worked I would have done it

A bit of research showed that the person that developed it comes from the same uni research centre as the people that developed the FODMAP diet (something along those lines anyway) and read some reviews on the App Store saying it had worked

So since I’d spent a lot of time desperate for a solution I thought it was worth a go. As I said above it worked for me, the hypnosis thing itself is useful (and not only for IBS, I now no longer do the daily hypnosis session but do meditate daily) and the daily readings they give you explain things which is equally helpful.

For example I found stress was a huge factor for my IBS and when I started a flare up I’d get more stressed as I thought it was a purely physiological thing and there was nothing I could do except watch my diet and hammer my stomach with a massage gun to make it maybe slightly better. After using Nerva I understood the brain gut connection thing fully and am able to mentally turn it off (it’s not quite that straightforward but that’s the idea)

If you’re reading this as an IBS sufferer you’re probably thinking it doesn’t seem possible, and of course it won’t work for everyone, but for 20mins of your time a day for a few weeks and £50 if you’re experiencing anything like I was you’ll give it a shot

IBS was a huge problem for me for a few years, GPs were useless and FODMAP didn’t help. I remember reading from a paper that people would take a 10% or 20% reduction in life expectancy for an effective cure, I would have signed up for that even at 30%

I spent the £50 on the Nerva app and now have no issues, very occasionally I get the start of a flare up but I now know how to deal with it

IBS is a tricky one as it’s different for everyone, so no guarantee it’ll work for you but even if Nerva doesn’t work it educates you on what IBS actually is which helps in itself

Hope you find something that works for you

I grabbed one of the £600 full builds at the weekend, was looking for a frame only but couldn’t ignore that it’s basically £200 for a full (basic but solid) build kit

I ordered it over 2 days ago though and haven’t heard anything from them, despite being ‘same day dispatch’ and ‘next day delivery’. Hopefully it at least turns up in the right size

My Dad started a new job as a teacher recently, never ever have I seen him so stressed and unhappy

Saw Bert Kreischer the other weekend, brilliant show!

Got Tom Segura and a couple others booked later in the year but also missing a few I would like to see due to the terrible state the trains are in, a gig is already a few hundred £ for us so the added hassle of spending ages trying to get to London and missed ferry connections is not always worth it

I had 2007 Berlingò for years and did hundreds of bike trips in all different configurations

1 or 2 bikes fit with all wheels on

3 bikes 3 people fit with one wheel off one of the bikes and both wheels on the other 2

4 bikes 4 people can be done with a 3 bike towbar rack

5 bikes 2 people works really well with some 3d printed fork mounts

I got it last week, kicked it with cold exposure. Cold shower every day and a couple sea swims to kickstart the immune system, get the blood going and move from a mental state of feeling sorry for myself to ready to kick this thing’s ass. Followed by a long Xmas day afternoon sleep to let the above do it’s thing

Now feeling great

Update on this.

I’m now just over 3 months post op, the first 3 weeks after surgery were the worse I’ve had ever had physically. My op was non-standard with the lateral tenodesis so it was expected to be worse but this was terrible! Delayed my rehab a bit as I couldn’t do anything for those first 3 weeks so lost even more ROM and strength

Had some very mentally dark times in those weeks, having someone around and keeping sight of the bigger picture is key here. If anyone is in this position and wants help PM me or talk to someone as it takes some understanding and not everyone gets how severe this is for an active person

BUT, fast forward 3 months and it’s going well, still hurts occasionally and although it is getting stronger the graft is now at it’s weakest point so need to be super careful. Have treated myself to 2 ebike rides to the woods round the corner from me, they both went really well but as it’s risky I’ll not be doing more until the 5 month mark when the graft gains more strength

Struggling with my flexion range of motion, it’s tricky to stretch while being scared of the graft going pop! I didn’t think the ACL was stressed under stretching but the consultant said with the imbalances in my knee currently from the op it is still risky

In 3 months my graft should be as well integrated as it’ll get apparently so I can go back to light MTB at that point and then at 1 year everything should be reasonably well balanced and I can go back to MMA

Annoyingly if I’d spent the 2hrs of physio I’ve done every day for the last 7 months training general fitness/strength I would have been in ridiculous shape, instead I’m in bad shape and with a knee that won’t be the same as before

Useful things for anyone in a similar position:

Cryocuff: doesn’t work as well as ice but used with ice it’s great

Swimming: after months of being essentially crippled getting in the water was amazing, even with the knee still in a bad way I was almost as mobile as I was before in the water. Also the only real way to get high intensity cardio in when your lower body is out of action. Went snorkelling in the sea the other week as well, I was almost in tears from how much I enjoyed those 90 mins in the sea (getting in and out is problematic though! get in as far as the mid-shin then just lie backwards)

Foam roller: roll those quads and hammys!

Pullup bar and pushup handles: Have kept my upper body in shape without risking the graft

Cushions under heel: now I’m walking almost normally I can see how critical extension of the knee is. I put in hours of painful stretching and it still isn’t perfect

Do the damn physio: I’ve been doing 2hrs daily since January more or less. Do what your physio says and then some!

7 string guitar: always wanted one and now was the time to spend messing about with songs in dropped B and C tuning I could never be arsed to tune my 6 string down to!

The answer to who will be our next PM is of course Alex Jones

Can’t see him being more incompetent than the others and he would be alot more entertaining at least